Flares

70’s club, felt like one of the youngest ones there. quite dear also but did have offers on vodka and red bull. I will never go there on a Saturday mind just in case the prices rise dramatically. an alright start to the night though if you like that sort of music.

Flares is like Reflex’s lesser known, slightly more hated cousin. This place will be heaving with retro music lovers on a weekend, to the point where you might not be able to stand it.
You will find people horrendously dressed up as awful 70’s and 80’s characters, but no doubt the brightly lit rainbow décor will distract you from this, well you can but hope.
It is a good place if you want to get your retro groove on, you will hate it however if you hate your bars themed. I quite like themed bars but this is taking it to the extreme, I think it’s the kind of people that it attracts that puts me off this place and the reason I never want to go.

Oh my god! get your spangles and your hipsters on and head back to the seventies with this psychedelic, small, crazy little club!
I’ll be honest, this place intimidates me. From the flashing lights to the flashing dance floor to the grubby, underground (AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH) little toilets that make your top lip sweat. (on your face!)
Its usually filled with youngsters in fancy dress or divorced women on the prowl but all in all an OK place to fill the time.
There’s a lot of big glasses and big wigs but hey it is a seventies themed bar for… C’sake.
The music is light and upbeat but people do seem to be more interested in what everyone else is doing, i suppose that goes hand in hand with over forties and not much space.
Drinks are not overly priced seen’s as your in the heart of the city centre but be warned after a certain time you have to pay and queue to get in… something i would never do! Its not that brilliant inside!
I suppose Flares, really is what you make of it, if your in a huge gang, get there early and take advantage of the empty dance floor, if there’s only one or two of you and tits the theme your after head there a little later!
Groovy Man!

With a clientele of all age ranges, Flares usually has a good humoured, tongue-​in-​cheek atmosphere… that’s about where the positives end.
Two things I have come to expect from a night in Flares; you will definitely see a random group of people in sub-​par fancy dress and there is almost always a drunken hen-​party hiding somewhere. Be warned.
Flares should be Cardiff’s answer to Saturday Night Fever, but instead, ends up looking more like a John Sergeant dance recital. If the seventies music doesn’t hit you the second you walk through the door, the overwhelming stench of cheese will.
If you want a good laugh at a retro-​themed bar, I recommend the eighties alternative just a few doors down; unless of course you’re in sub-​par fancy dress or on a hen party.

This bar is everything I hate about these kind of fake themed good time bars.
Is manufactured crazy to convince people who don’t know how to have a good time that they are in fact having an «absolute bonkers» time.
If you like plastic cheese served on a filthy old piece of bread then come here.
It is not necessary for people to wear huge false afros and garish 70’s suits to have a good time — but if you feel it helps then join the queue of desperate fun hunters outside.

70’s bar, so you know the musical score going in. but if you’re in the mood for it, can be great fun. mine’s a fishbowl!

Although I’ve had a couple of good nights out in Flares (many years ago, I might add), the place seems to be getting worse and worse slowly over the decades. Now it’s just too cheesy and too sleazy to have much fun in. Which is sad, because it does so much right, but so very much more wrong.
Firstly, I will commend this club on playing ‘Copacabana’ every time my friends and I have ever requested it. Ahem. It was kind of our thing, okay? Not many other places were so keen.
Secondly, they have a classic flashing lights dance floor, and I really struggle to think of another one like it in Cardiff. Ive decided, for sake of argument, that there isn’t one. This is the only place, therefore, where you feel you can boogie and bop like the best of them. Do a Disco Stu.
But, as I mentioned before, this club is full of slimy men with open silk shirts and medallions nestled in their chest hair (slight exaggeration, maybe, but nearly true).
Avoid if you value your viginity.

I cannot think of anywhere in Cardiff I would rather go less than this place.
Its dirty, often full of one to many hen parties or stag do’s and I’ve never had my bum pinched by so many dirty old men in all my life.
If you want cheesy music you can take your pick from lots of other places where you won’t get stuck to the floor. Granted the drinks are cheap but you have to wait ages to get served and then the place is packed out so you can’t even get to the dance floor.
I can’t really say anything good about the place.

Flares is an absolute BALL!
Yes, it is a little dirty sometimes but if you can manage to put that to one side (which you will be able to if you indulge in some of the strong but delicious cocktails — you won’t remember your last name, let alone whether the floor’s been swept) then you really will have great fun.
I wouldn’t recommend this place as a regular night out — but if you go on Wednesday, which is gay night, you will have an amazing time. When we went, we were warned by the bouncer that it was gay night but that really doesn’t matter to us.
There were actually really only gay men, shaking their thang to some seriously dodgy, but brilliant, tunes. Getting in to the swing of things is imperative, as you will only have half as much fun as you could if you shrug off the attention.
Being spun around the light-​up floor by two gay men to Dancing Queen was one of the campest and best experiences of nightlife in Cardiff that I’ve ever had. And when they went off together at the end, I was just relieved that I didn’t have to fend off men.
All in all, a YES!

Feeling groovy and fancy a night out that includes, light up floors, disco balls, and bar staff with afros? Then Flares may just be the place for you. I’ve been a few times and have had somewhat mixed experiences. On a regular night out Flares is not the place to go, it can often be quite dead! When attending a party though the opposite problem occurs (it’s not that large a venue) and you can feel like a sardine squished into a can. On the plus side the cocktails (many themed) are rather nice, and the atmosphere at parties can good. Don’t be surprised as the evening wears on to find yourself doing the Conga, dancing in a cage or even wearing funny specs (handed out at parties). As themed venues go it does tend to be somewhat naff. You’re most certainly not transported back to the 70s (unless my parents were lying about all those wild parties). But if you’re attending a party or a work do and can take everything with a pinch of salt you’re bound to have a bit of a laugh!

do not go near terrible !! bad music expensive drinks sticky floor to the point if you stand in the same place for long enough you may not get out, tiny and smelly lots of fights !!!

Awful! Say no more

Flares is a 70’s themed nightclub on St Mary’s Street.
Its great if you fancy a boogie! The prices are fairly cheap but be warned if can get very busy so get there early.
Decour could do with some updating now but its still a great place.

If you love your music cheesy, 70’s etc then this is the place for you. Regular theme nights, great prices, can get packed great atmosphere